Fire-resisting shutter



L. e, 'WILSONRK: P. MQMANUS FIRE BESISI'ING SHUTTER Arrmoumn rnzn nov.30, 1 908 Patented 00b. 11, 1910.

2 BHEETB-SHEET 1.

r v I M II I I II I II I I II WITNESSES ATTORNEYS L.. G. WILSON &, PMbMANUS. FIRE RESISTING SHUTTER.

APPLIOATION FILED HOW-80, 1908.-

Patentad 0015.11, 1910.

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ATTORNEYS l6 1 VENTURE WITNESSES v m v UNITED srn rns PATENT OFFICE.LESTER G. WILSON, or LARCHMONT, NEWTHTREND rnnnn llllcMANUS, or soonerNORFOLK, VIRGINIA; SAID MGMANUS ASSIGNQQRJIOSAIDL Wilson. I

rmn-nnsrsrme snu rrna Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed November 30, 1908. Serial No. 465,094.

a citizen of South Norfolk, Princess Anne county, State of Virginia,have jointly invented cert'ain new and useful Improvements inFire-Resisting Shutters, of which the following is a full, true, andeXact specification.

Our invention. relates to rolling shutters made of fire resistingmaterial and adapted to automatically close over the opening that 1s tobe protected whenever the temperature I in the immediate vicinity of theshutter shall reach a definite and predetermined maximum.

Our invention has reference to automaticterference with the automaticreleasing de vice; and comprises certain special constructions andarrangements ofparts as will more fully appear as the specificationproceeds.

The object of our invention. is to provide a means by wh1ch,*in case offire, the shutter may be released automatically, positively,

and certainly, yvithout rislrof failure and wlt-hout entalhng damage tostructural or functional parts of thecurtain.

A further object is to enable theshutter to be quickly andeasily resetin operative posi tion without the aid of special tools or labor.

A further object of our invention is to enable the shutter to be set in'operative position at practically any opening less than its full extent.

Still further objects of our invention will hereafter appear. 40

Referring to the drawings which show a preferred embodiment of ourimproved shutter', Figure 1 IS a perspective view with the shutter inoperative position. Fig.2is an axial elevation, part section, of theshutter roller and its mount. Fig, an end elevation of the shutterrollermount (vlewed from the left of Fi 2) showing the releasing device.Fig. 4 is an end elevation (taken from the rightof Fig. 1) showing theli1nit-stop Fig. 5 is a plan, part section, taken from above and alongthe l ne 5-5 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the fusiblelink which controls the releasing device.

are given, by independent rotation of the shaft, '3, in a suitabledirection, a further uplifting tendency of any desired degree. Theyserve, therefore, as counterbalancing springs against which the shutteris always loweredand if the springs, l, besuitably selected as to lengthand stiffness and the runways in which the curtain edges travel beproperly fitted to. such edges, the curtain will remain in anyparticular place in which it is put. v Shaft 3 is journaled at one endin a casing head 5, and at the other end in a lug, 6,

forming a part of the other casing head, 7..

Upon the shaft end outside of easing 5, is a. pulley, 8,rigidlyattachedthereto and pro-H vided with radial holes, 9, uniformlyspaced about its circumference. Pivoted at.10 is a flat lever, 11,provided with a pin, 12, adapt ed to engage any of the peripheral holes,9. This bar at its outer end passes through a slot, 1-3, formed in th;length of a weight bar 14. I V a Attached to the bottom of theweight baris center of this chain is placed a fusible link,

18". This may be the ordinary fusiblelink of commerce consistingessentiallyof two thin, flat pieces of metal with their flats heldtogethei by solder of suitable meltingpoi'nt and with eyes, 19, forfastening the chain.

As shown in Fig. 1v the'shutter is raised and supposed to be inoperative position.' If properly set the spring tension in springs 4.-should be such as to assist in lifting the shutter no matter where itmay be in its opening. As shown in the drawings, the curtain may beraised or lowered and will stay at any desired point. Theweight bar, 14,has been raised by the chain, 15, to its topmost position in which it issteadied by the slot, 20, slipping over the pin 21.

a chain, 15, which passes over-a small idler pulley, 16, and thencearound the corner of this very I f, for any reason, the temperature inthe vicinity of the fusible link 18 should rise to the predeterminedlimit, the solder in this fuse will melt and the chain break apart. Thiswill release the weight bar 14 which will instantly drop and knock awayby its impact the pivoted bar, 11, thus freeing the pulley 8 from thepin 12. Shaft .3 will then fly around, thereby relaxing the springs 4:,and the shutter, having now lost the uplift of the springs and havingnothing'but the friction of its edges in the grooves to sustain it, willinstantly fall its full course from whatever position it may have had.

Owing to the fact that the weight'of the shutter becomes more and moreeffective as it unrolls it is clear that the shutter will fall, whenreleased, with rapidly accelerated velocity and that some means forchecking excessive speed and preventing the curtain from reaching itslimit suddenly is required if permanent damage to the shutter and itsmounting is to be avoided. We accomplish simply by the use of a squarenut 22 threaded upon that end of the shaft 3 remote from the pulley 8..In the .shutter illustrated, the thread must be a left hand thread; bysuitably choosing the pitch of this thread and regulating the distanceof the nut from the squared end of the shaft, we may cause the nut to bedrawn up and screwed home against said squared end as the curtain nearsthe limit of its fall. For a part of the last revolution or so of theshaft, the nut will work very hard owing to its Wedging effect with theshaft end so that the shaft will be slowed radually but firmly'and willfinally stop wit liout jar after \\'hi 'l1, further fall of the shutterwill operate to wind upthesprings, 4, thus bring.- ing the shutter.gently to rest.

In the absence of excessive temperature, 2'. e., under normalconditions, the springs, l, are, of course, always set; and the weightbar, 14, always in its uppermost position being held there by the chain,15, and link 18.

Under these circumstances the shutter operates as an ordinarycounterbalanced shutter and may be raised or lowered or placed in anydesired position.

After an emergency release, as just described, the shutter if small andlight may usually be readily reset by first lifting it up to its full orany preferred limit and then grasping the pulley, 8, and rotating 1tuntil the springs, 4, have the desired tension; the bar 11 is thenraised so as to engage pin, 12, with one\of the pulley holes after whichthe weight bar may easily be lifted and the two ends of the chain bebrought together and fastened with a new link 18 or by resoldering theelements of the old link.

When the shutter is large and heavy it will generally be best to raiseit and to wind up the springs at the same time, an operation which willusually require two people. To wind the springs a couple of short barsare inserted in the holes, 9, and used as hand-spikes, the bars beingalternately removed and reinserted farther back as the pulley is turned.The lever, weight bar, chain, and link are then fixed as before.

We may make many alterations of mechanical detail in carrying out ourinvention without departing from 1ts spirit or going outside its scope.

e are aware that counterbalanced fire resi'stingshutters have beenhitherto made to fall automatically through the intermediation of meansfusible by excess of temperature and we do not broadly claim this idea,but only the embodiment and means which have been disclosed and which weparticularly set forth in the following claim.

We claim In combination with a fire resistant shutter comprisin aflexible fire resistant material fastene to and adapted to be coiledupon bands elastically secured to a shaft a pulley at the end'of saidshaft provided with spaced peripheral recesses, a lever pivoted to theshutter casing provided with a pin to engage said recesses, a weightprovided with an elongated slot surrounding the end of said lever, saidweight being adapted to be raised or to fall so as to engage the leverwith the bottom of said slot when in its upper position and with the topof said slot when in its lower position, means to prevent said. weightfrom slipping off said lever, and means attached to the bottom of saidweight for raising it to its topmost position, said raising means beingadapted to be held taut by' fusible means, substantially as and forthe'purpose described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presenceoftwo subscribing witnesses.

LESTER G. WILSON.

FRANK McMANUS.

Witnesses asto Lester G. Wilson:

ELMER SHIRLYONN, ERNST DOSCHER.

Witnesses as to Frank McManus:

T. Y. IDAVIS, H. E. D. WILSON.

